French Polynesia, officially the Collectivity of French Polynesia, is an overseas collectivity of the French Republic and its sole overseas country.

It is composed of one hundred and eighteen geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over an expanse of more than two thousand kilometers (twelve hundred miles) in the South Pacific Ocean. Its total land area is 4,167 square kilomeers (1,609 square miles).

French Polynesia is divided into five groups of islands: the Society Islands archipelago, composed of the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands; the Tuamotu Archipelago; the Gambier Islands; the Marquesas Islands; and the Austral Islands.

Among its one hundred and eighteen islands and atolls, sixty-seven are inhabited.

Tahiti, which is located within the Society Islands, is the most populous island, having close to sicty-nine percent of the population of French Polynesia as of 2017.

Papeete, located on Tahiti, is the capital.

Although not an integral part of its territory, Clipperton Island was administered from French Polynesia until 2007.

Following the Great Polynesian Migration, European explorers visited the islands of French Polynesia on several occasions.

Traders and whaling ships also visited.

n 1842, the French took over the islands and established a French protectorate they called Établissements français d'Océanie (EFO) (French Establishments/Settlements of Oceania).

In 1946, the EFO became an overseas territory under the constitution of the French Fourth Republic, and Polynesians were granted the right to vote through citizenship.

In 1957, the EFO were renamed French Polynesia.

In 1983 French Polynesia became a member of the Pacific Community, a regional development organization.

Since 28 March 2003, French Polynesia has been an overseas collectivity of the French Republic under the constitutional revision of article 74, and later gained, with law 2004-192 of 27 February 2004, an administrative autonomy, two symbolic manifestations of which are the title of the President of French Polynesia and its additional designation as an overseas country.